Questioning Authority
by RedRoses18
Summary: Brennan comes across something that will threaten everything she thought was true, and there’s only one person she can count on to help her. My FIRST fic ever!
1. Accusations

**Chapter One**

"I'm telling you, I SAW her!" Dr. Temperance Brennan definitively retorted, drawing one step closer to her partner, Agent Seeley Booth. The two were bickering in Booth's apartment. Bones had come over abruptly minutes earlier, out of breath, and talking a mile-a-minute about a conspiracy theory involving Dr. Camille Saroyan.

"I first noticed it two weeks ago when Cam got me to do that ID on that priceless Roman-era skull. She asked me right out of the blue to do the scan, and then 3 days after I closed the case the skull goes missing! Then, the diamond necklace on that crash victim case we got last week also went missing, and Cam was the last person in the room with the body. Booth, I'm not the person to jump to conclusions. You know me. I'm all about the emotionless-fact-based-rational knowledge. I knew no one would believe me so I set up a digital recording device –"

"Bones, you're crazy! Do you have any idea what you're suggesting? She's the head of your department! And you have no evidence –"

"Well if you would let me FINISH for once. She said herself she came to the Jeffersonian for the 'facilities'! I have a recording of her encoded on my computer in my office; it's a video of her stealing – "

"Bones for once in your life listen to me. Ok? You're acting crazy, and I know this has nothing to do with Cam. This is about you and me. I can see how jealous you are of Cam, look I'm not with her anymore okay?!"

"Booth don't be so self righteous! This has nothing to do with you. I am purely telling you, an FBI agent, this out of concern for the Jeffersonian Institute – "

"Typical Bones, mask all of your personal issues under the façade of that lab. You know, if you could just face up to how you ACTUALLY feel and not be so guarded to everyone you know, you wouldn't have to throw yourself into work so much to convince yourself you're happy with your life. If you only knew how much I –"

Booth stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the damaged expression on Bones' face. He had said too much. Hit too close to home.  
"Temperance, I –"

She wordlessly turned and left his apartment, closing the door silently behind her as one tear fell from her face. The tear hit Seeley like a shot in the back; he had just hurt the one he loved the most.

Bones headed towards her car, tears flowing freely from her pale face to the cold concrete beneath her. She leaned against her car, not bothering to climb inside. She let the sobs come and go, and replaced them with determination. She would prove Cam's guilty of theft, and then she would get herself as far away from Seeley Booth as possible, regardless of her feelings for him.

Bones drove straight from the parking garage to the Jeffersonian. She headed straight into her office and, as Booth so accurately put it "threw herself into her work". She started by finishing compiling all of the evidence she had against Cam, and put a hidden link to them in the last chapter of her new novel. All she had to do was wait until FBI headquarters opened and bring them straight to Cullen.

Bones sat there in her chair and thought a lot about Booth. She cared for him a great deal, and she knew that he was right about the things he said to her. She wanted to tell him how she felt, but knew that it would take pretty intense circumstances for her ever to be that truthful with another human being.  
It was coming close to 2AM when Bones momentarily left her office and approached the forensic platform. The singing "ding" of the ID pad was the only sound in the lab other than the clicking of her own shoes. There was nothing on the forensic gurney, but Brennan went to pick up some mineral samples to test before Hodgins came in. Out of no where, Bones felt two strong arms link from behind her and a white pad was pressed to her face. She tried to resist, but the strikingly pungent odor from the pad penetrated her nostrils and she fell forward into a dark sleep.

Minutes passed. Hours passed. Bones reentered consciousness to find it nearly impossible to open her eyes – they were caked with her own blood. The room she was in was small, wet, and dark and there was no sign of anyone in sight. Her blood was all over her and continued to stream down her face as she moved. All of the blood was coming from her head – she must have hit it on the corner of the forensic gurney when she fell. The pain was almost unbearable, and it wasn't just coming from her head. Bones glanced down toward her legs which were both bent in impossible directions – clearly both seriously broken; broken to prevent escape. Her arms were chained upwards and she was slumped against a brown brick wall. She opened her mouth to cry for help, but all that came out was a muffled gasp. 

Booth paced his apartment; physically and emotionally weary. Cam a thief? Of federal property?

He couldn't grasp it. Cam may not be a great person but she can't be capable of that, she values her job so much! It wasn't really the theft suspicions that was robbing Seeley of his sleep – he felt terrible about his heated argument with Bones, he was much too hard on her. "Darn it Booth you always have such a backwards way of telling that woman how you feel!" he thought to himself as he started and watched the seconds tick past on his clock.

Booth couldn't sleep at all last night. He tossed and turned, images of Temperance's face etched into his mind. Going through every probably conclusion of her suspicions towards Cam, and how any feelings Bones may have reciprocated towards him were undoubtedly obliterated by his harsh words. He was awake when his alarm went off, and smacked it out of pure frustration.

That morning Booth decided he needed to confront Bones and tell her everything – he just couldn't live like this anymore. He parked his car and walked up to the door where he nearly bumped into Angela. "Whoa you look like crap! Hot date?" she coaxed in her all-too-perky voice.

"Good morning to you too Angela. Hey have you spoken to Bones since yesterday?" he asked as they approached the forensic platform inside the Jeffersonian.

"No, she didn't answer her phone at all last night, so I figured she was with you. Hence my hot date theory..." Angela retorted.

"She wasn't." Booth muttered as he headed in the direction of Bones' office.

"Booth!" Angela called in a wavering voice. "Check this out". The two crouched down by the far side of the forensic table to find remnants of what used to be a large pool of blood. It looked as if someone had tried to clean up the mess but had done a very poor job of it, as the sticky pink residue remained visible on the cold white floor. Booth said nothing as he followed the smaller consecutive pools of blood which led off the platform, and then they no longer continued. "What are you thinking?" Angela asked to break the silence.

"This is a forensic lab, some intern probably just did a crappy job with some experiment. Don't clean it up though. Get Hodgins to run a small smear sample and run it through a series of positive matches. Check test subjects, employees, janitors, everything." He headed towards Bones' office, "And let me know if you find a match."

Booth approached her office door. "Bones it's me open up. I need to talk to you." He spoke to the wooden panel. No answer. "I'm not leaving until you open this door. I know you're upset but there are some things I need to tell you." He knocked even harder and the door opened a crack by itself.  
"Bones always locks her door…" He thought to himself silently as he entered her room.

Three lamps were on in Temperance's office, casting a soft glow about the room. Sitting on the desk was a half empty cup of stale tea and masses of paperwork sitting by her computer. Booth took a moment to savor being in a place that was "all" Temperance. Her life, her worries, her happiness, even her perfume lingered in every inch of this room.

He walked over to her computer, noticing a minimized chapter of her new book. Resisting the nearly overwhelming urge to open it, Seeley logged onto the Jeffersonian Main Server and checked into the employee entry data bank. Whenever anyone entered or exited the Jeffersonian, they swiped their card key and their ID number and information was collected on the entry server. He glanced over the list for that particular day, starting from 6AM to 9AM.

Saroyan, Dr. C – 6:32 AM

… (the list was very long) …

Hodgins, Dr. J – 8:07 AM

Booth, S – 8:31 AM

Montenegro, A – 8:32 AM

Addy, Z – 8:47 AM

He read the entire entry list and there was no sign of Bones at all. Puzzled, he logged onto the day before and checked all possible times, when he saw her name:  
(day before)

Brennan, Dr. T – 10:56 PM

There was no account of Bones ever leaving the Jeffersonian, "So she must still be here…" Booth thought to himself thankfully. "10:56 – that's about 20 minutes after she left my apartment. And then she stayed here all night…" Booth thought guiltily to himself, his need to apologize to Brennan heightening by the second. Booth got up from Bones' computer and headed out of her office toward the cafeteria, thinking that she may have taken a break. But when Booth heard Angela's worried voice he knew in his heart that there was something very very wrong.

"Booth!" Angela shouted running toward him.

"Angela, what is it? What's wrong?"

"That blood on the floor – it's Tempe's blood. All of it."

All of the colour drained from Booth's face as he and Angela stared from the test results and back at each other.


	2. Startling Discovery

_Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews guys! This is the first time I've posted on this site, so any feedback is greatly appreciated!    
Sorry this one is a bit shorter; I will post more very soon…_

**Chapter Two**

Booth only allowed himself 60 seconds to panic, and then launched into FBI mode. Hodgins came running toward them, knowing exactly what was going on because he was the one who ran the blood test.

"Angela. I'm going to go pull all of the security tapes from between 10:30PM-8:00AM. I need you to drive to Bones' apartment and see if she's there. Take Hodgins with you I don't want you going alone – be extremely cautious."

"Booth, do you think someone did this to Brennan?" Angela asked worriedly. "She could have just had an accident with…" Her voice trailed off and Hodgins gently grabbed her hand.

"This wasn't an accident, but we won't know for sure until I get those tapes." Booth responded, signaling to Hodgins to get going to Brennan's. They turned to leave as Booth added one more thing, an idea that just entered his mind, "Guys. Whatever you do, do not inform Cam of this. Tell her nothing. If anyone asks, Tempe is taking a sick day and you two just went to drop off some paperwork or evidence or something."  
"Why not Cam? Is it because - " Hodgins asked.

"I don't have time to explain, and I'm not even sure why, but just trust me on this. I want Bones back, and this is how we're going to do it."  
The two nodded understandably and headed out of the Jeffersonian.

Once they were gone, Booth went back to Bones' office and shut her door for privacy. He immediately headed toward the phone and first called the company who monitors the video surveillance system at the parking garage of his apartment complex, wanting to see if anyone approached Bones before she even got to the Jeffersonian. Booth had worked with this company before, when he investigated a serial murderer who attacked a woman in a parking garage similar to this one just down the street.

"I'm FBI. My name is special agent Seeley Booth and I need you to send me all of the files between 10:15-10:40 last night from the camera closest to the door, on level 1."

"Please give me one moment please sir… Yes here's the file. Where would you like it sent?"  
"Send it to the Jeffersonian Institute, c/o Dr. Temperance Brennan's computer."

"Alright sir, it has been sent digitally and you can expect it within the next moment or two on that computer."  
"Thanks for your help" Booth said quickly as he hung up the phone, left Bones' office and ran up the stairs toward the Surveillance Centre to grab the footage from last night.

Booth returned to Bones' office with a memory USB stick full of the footage from the Jeffersonian last night. Oddly, he had to hassle the security guard a bit to get it, but a flip of Booth's badge was all it took to force the guard to submit.

Booth sat back down at the computer when his cell phone rang.  
"Booth, it's Angela. We just searched Tempe's apartment and there's no sign of her anywhere. Her bed is made and doesn't look slept in, everything's in it's right place, nothing seems to be missing…" Angela's voice trailed off.

Booth cursed silently to himself. It wasn't a huge shock she wasn't there since the server logs suggest that she never even left the building. "Ok. Can you and Hodgins get back to the lab? I'm just about ready to go over the footage last night, and I might need you to ID any assailant who shows up on the tape. We'll need Hodgins to cover for us with Cam."  
"Alright Booth we're just leaving now. I have to ask you something. What's the deal with avoiding Cam? Is there something we should know?" Angela asked.  
"Look, I'm not even sure yet, but Bones mentioned something to me about Cam being involved with stealing evidence and artifacts from the lab. It might be nothing, but Bones said she was working on collecting evidence… I don't know…" Booth trailed off, growing weary even thinking about his discussion with Bones the night before. How could he even live with himself if something happened to her?  
"Booth! Do you think Bones got mixed up in all of this?" Angela asked, her voice raising with the impending severity of her best friend's disappearance.

"I don't know yet, but I'm in the process of finding that out. Just get back here as soon as you can okay?" Booth said as he hung up.

Booth reclined in Tempe's chair for a moment with a heavy sigh, and then opened the message from the Parking Lot Surveillance company and watched the recording on fast forward, until he saw Bones' car pull up at 10:00PM to his apartment complex. She got out of the car, locked it, and quickly approached the staircase. Booth wished he could go back to that moment. Wished that their conversation could have gone differently. Once Bones disappeared from view, he hit the fast forward button again and resumed normal speed when he saw her come back into the field of view. She was crying and walked slowly towards her car. Rather than getting inside she just stood there, leaning against the side door with her hand to her mouth. Booth felt sick and had to pause the footage, and just sat there and stared at the image in front of him. His throat constricted and his mouth went dry. He put a finger to the computer screen, wanting to feel close to her again. Hoping that he would get the chance to --

"Seeley, I didn't know you were in today. Have you seen Dr. Brennan?" Booth snapped out of his thoughts and glanced up to Bones' door where Cam was standing there expectantly.


	3. Switching Sides

**Disclaimer: I forgot to write one for the last 2 chapters, but this applies to them as well. I don't own Bones (though I wish I did…) and these characters aren't mine! **

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews guys, they make my day!! Please let me know what you think about this so far if you haven't reviewed yet! I'll post more if you want me to! Oh and sorry for the angst… it will get better, I swear!

**Chapter Three**

"Bones? Ugh –" Booth cleared his throat in a violent act to regain his composure from the emotional picture in front of him. "No, I believe she's taking a sick day today. I haven't heard from her, but I know she wasn't feeling well the other day." He replied, trying almost too hard to act casual.

"I really wish she'd call in. She does this everytime she takes a sick day. Just expects us not to notice. What are you doing in here anyway?" She added curiously.  
Booth quickly minimized the footage. "Oh I was just sending Bones some files to her home computer to work on there. Keep her busy" he lied.

"I see. And do you happen to know where Dr. Hodgins and Ms.Montenegro are?"  
"Uh.." He stalled for time.  
"We're right here!" Angela responded cheerfully behind Cam.

"Wonderful. Hodgins, since Dr. Brennan is sick today, I need your assistance identifying some remains." Cam said as she left the doorway and headed out towards Hodgins. Their voices disappeared as they walked further away. Angela shut the door behind her and silently approached the desk where Booth was sitting.

"You don't look so good." Angela said quietly.  
"No." Booth simply said. He maximized the screen and hit the play button.

"Where is this? What's wrong with her?" Angela asked as she studied her emotional friend on the screen.  
"It's the parking garage at my apartment complex, taken last night before Bones came to the lab. I thought if I studied the footage chronologically –"  
"What happened to her? Did you two fight?"  
"Yes. But I don't think going through it will help this case much, we should move on to the lab footage and see if there's an assailant you can ID." Booth said, almost to force himself back into rational thought, as he inserted the USB into the computer and waited for it to load. Honestly, Booth couldn't stand to see Temperance cry anymore. It tore him apart. He rubbed his eyes wearily and Angela pulled up a chair beside him.

The camera Booth pulled the footage which was pointed at the forensic platform, and a small perimeter around it. Just like the parking garage footage, they watched it on fast forward, resuming normal speed only when Temperance entered the field of view. Nothing at all seemed out of place. Throughout the tape, Temperance came in and out of view gathering paperwork, using a microscope, and busying herself.

"It should be anytime now." Booth said as the clock on the footage read 1:50AM. He actually had no idea what they were about to witness.

Bones entered the field of view. She leaned against the gurney on the platform, just thinking. She then turned her back on the camera and approached a desk upon which contained samples of unidentified minerals. Just as she reached for the sample, Angela quietly cried "Oh! Right there!" and pointed at the screen where an unidentified person, most likely male, dressed in black came up from behind Bones, as if right underneath the camera. He grabbed her around the waist and violently smothered her nose and mouth with a white pad. She resisted, trying to injure her attacker but it was too late, the chemical was too strong and she plummeted down and smacked her head against the corner of the gurney as the assailant made no attempt to block her fall.

A teary Angela covered her mouth in shock and Booth's heartbeat began to race as he saw Temperance, his Temperance, lying crumpled on the floor in a pool of her own blood. The puddle grew larger and larger until the assailant slung her over his shoulder and walked toward the end of the platform toward a woman opening a body bag on the floor. The man threw Tempe's unconscious body into the bag and zipped it nearly to the top, just leaving enough space for an air hole, as the unidentified woman just stood there watching. All of a sudden the screen turned fuzzy and the image disappeared, obviously tampered with. Booth was extremely pale and his mind was racing a mile a minute and Angela just sat there with her hands covering her mouth as she murmured incomprehensibly. Booth paused the tape, rewound it, and freeze framed the picture of the woman staring down at the body. He knew that woman. He knew that woman.

Booth shot up out of the chair, swung open the door and ran towards the forensic platform where Cam was working with Jack.

"Did you hurt her?! How could you hurt her?! WHERE is she? Tell me what you did with her!" Booth screamed as she pulled Cam by the shoulders and violently shoved her into the wall. His rage was uncontrollable; his voice was breaking. He was seething with anger.

"BOOTH you're going to hurt her! You need to calm down" Hodgins said as he attempted to reach out for one of Booth's arms.

"Calm down? I'm not CALMING down until she tells me where Bones is!" Booth said as he shoved Hodgins away.

"Booth what are you talking about?! I don't know what you're talking about! Let me go!" Cam squealed under his fierce grip.

"You put her in the body bag and where did you take her?! TELL ME or I swear I'll –" He threatened as he shoved her body against the wall for a third time.

"Call security! Someone get security in here he's going to kill – " Cam shouted.

"Shut up. WHERE is she? What did you do to her?"

"Booth you need to stop! This won't help anything!" a teary Angela cried out. Finding herself intimidated and in awe of the sheer rage exhibited by Booth.

The same security guard who had given Booth trouble this morning over the surveillance tapes came up behind him and tried to pull Booth off of Cam. Booth was much stronger than he, and had the added strength of adrenaline on his side, and guard knew that it was futile.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Cam screamed as Booth continued to tighten his grip on her shoulders and neck.

A larger group of security guards ran towards the platform and broke the two apart. They dragged Booth off the platform as he continued to shout backwards towards Cam who looked at him with steely eyes. Cam turned away and walked towards her office where she shut the door, leaving a shocked Hodgins and Angela remaining on the platform. Zack Addy walked up the stairs. "Uh guys? What just happened?" he asked nervously. 

After a brief shocked silence, Angela quickly motioned at Hodgins and Zach to follow her into Bones' office to ensure they were out of Cam's earshot. She shut the door and quickly filled them in on the morning's events, excluding the fight between Booth and Bones since that wasn't something they really needed to know. Hodgins already knew what was going on, but was just as distraught as Zach over the content of the videos.

"So… Cam did this?" Zach asked timidly.

"Well see that's the thing. Clearly Booth thinks it's her on the video, but I'm still not sure. I mean, it could be her... but..." her voice trailed off.

"You think this is Booth filling in the gaps just because he's biased. I mean this whole thing could be over Bones' suspicions of Cam, or it could be completely unrelated. I mean, it's not like Bones is lacking in the enemies department…" Hodgins suggested.

"I need to see the video." Zach stated as he approached Bones' computer.

Angela sat in Tempe's chair and brought up the video that had caused Booth to react in such a violent way. There was no image on the screen, just a black box. Angela found this strange because Booth had paused the frame on an image of the unidentified woman before he minimized it. She tried to reset the video, but there was nothing.

"Guys. The video is gone." Angela choked out as her eyes widened in disbelief. 

Temperance Brennan's head felt as if it was about to explode. The pain from her head wound was nothing compared to what her legs were feeling.  
"I've got to get out of here" was all she could think as she glanced slowly around the room. She was finding it so hard to string ideas together in her head. "There's so much blood…" she thought.

Booth entered her mind. She wondered if he even knew she was gone. He was probably with Cam right now, laughing off Temperance's allegations towards her. They'd laugh together. It made Temperance sick.

In a sudden burst of adrenaline, Temperance decided to take action. She'd been in situations like this before, and she needed to snap back to rationality. With all of the strength left in her she swung her arms back and forth to create momentum and tried to bounce up to straighten up her broken legs. She lifted her body off the cold, wet concrete and gasped in excruciating pain as there was no way her legs were moving. She was completely disabled. Completely alone. Rationality, the same rationality which Booth criticized her for controlling her life, meant nothing in this room. 

"Agent Booth, what were you thinking?!" Cullen yelled as he smacked his hand against the wall of the interrogation room where Booth was sitting at a table, staring straight infront of him.

"Sir, for the fifth time. Camille Saroyan aided in abducting Dr. Temperance Brennan, my partner, and must know the whereabouts of her. Sir, she could be dying as we speak. Look, I already told you Bones – Temperance – was suspicious of Camille for the theft charges. She said she had viable evidence to suggest ---" Booth's eyes suddenly widened as he stopped mid-sentence.  
"The evidence! It's in Tempe's book! On her computer! That'll be enough to send Camille into holding while I –"

"Agent Booth, you're not going anywhere. I am officially suspending you from the FBI while you await trial from the bureau regarding your assault. Lucky for you, Dr. Saroyan was not severely injured and is dropping charges against you claiming that your – misjudgement – came at a time of severe emotional turmoil for you. With that said –"

"Emotional turmoil.She just doesn't want to have anything else against her when we bust her for – "

"Agent Booth that is quite enough. With that said you are released from custody until further notice. The conditions for your release are simple. Under no circumstances are you permitted to come within the perimeter of the Jeffersonian Institution. You are not to speak to or approach Dr. Saroyan for any reason, or you will have criminal charges laid against you."

"Fine. I'm leaving." Booth said as he stood up.

"There's one more thing. Please hand in your badge and your gun." Cullen said with an outreached hand. Booth unwillingly handed over his weapon and badge and proceeded to open up the door. He was getting Bones back. With or without the FBI.  
This was off the books.

**A/N: Is Booth crazy? Is he right? cue evil laugh...  
Review and then I'll post more!**


	4. Onto Us

**Author's Note: First of all, I just want to take the time to thank everyone who has taken the time to review this story – it really means a lot! For those of you who haven't yet, I'd really love to hear from you – even if it's just to say hello!  
Also, I apologize that this chapter is a little on the shorter side but the next one is quite long. If you review, I'll post the next chapter! **

Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine!! But don't I wish…

Here we go!

Chapter Four

Anglea, Hodgins, and Zach stared at the black screen in front of them.

"Zach, do you think you can run this through a de-frag and get any of the footage back?" Hodgins asked.

"I'll try. At the very least I can expose the program used to erase it, and maybe work backwards from there." Zach ejected the USB stick with the footage on it from the computer and headed out to another computer.

"I'm going to go check on Cam. We need her to believe that we don't know what's going on. She may not be involved in this at all, but we can't take that chance." Hodgins said.

"Okay." Said Angela, still staring at the screen, obviously distraught.

Hodgins left the room, taking one glance back at Angela. "We're going to get her back." He said quietly to Angela. She didn't respond.

Angela sat there by herself in silence for a few minutes, hearing Hodgin's and Cam's voice from outside. They had paid such close attention to the female in the video, but who was the man who jumped Tempe?

Angela's cell phone abruptly rang.

"Angela it's Booth. I'm in my car."

"Ohmygosh Booth! What are you doing out?" Angela replied, shocked, but extremely relieved. If Angela trusted anyone to save her best friend, it was Booth. He had proved this on many occasions.

"Cam dropped charges. I'm suspended from the FBI. No gun. Long story. Look – I'm banned from the Jeffersonian, but there's something you need to do for me. You could get in trouble if you get caught, so pay very close attention."

"Anything." Angela supplemented.

"I need you to get me Bones' computer. Whatever you do, don't shut it down because what I need is open on the computer and could be lost if it looses power –"

"Booth I have to tell you something." Angela interrupted. "The video surveillance of Tempe being attacked – it's gone. It's been erased. I left the room and when I came back… Zach's running it through a de-frag right now to see if he can salvage anything."

There was a silence on the other end. Booth cursed silently to himself. But luckily that wasn't the file he was after. He was already convinced the woman in the video was Cam. He broke the silence.

"I still need that computer. Bones tried to tell me something about how she encoded evidence that would prove Cam's guilt but I… She never got to finish what she was saying. Look, you need to smuggle that laptop out of there, get in your car, and drive to Bones' apartment. I'll meet you there. Do you have a key?"

"Yes I do. Okay give me half an hour. I'll get it out of here."

Angela hung up the phone and closed the lid on Tempe's laptop, putting it into sleep mode. She glanced around the room for something to conceal it in, and retrieved a large canvas bag that Temperance often carried copious amounts of paperwork in. _"It's one step down from a wheelbarrow…"_ she used to say. Angela stuffed the computer in the bag, and grabbed her own purse which thankfully was still sitting on the couch where she had dropped it that morning. She took out her car keys, turned off the light to Brennan's office, and shut the door. She whirled around and bumped right into the security guard that had attempted to pry Booth of in the early stages of his 'assault' on Cam.

"I'm sorry, miss. I hope I didn't alarm you." The guard fumbled, backing slightly away from Angela.

"Oh, no worries. I guess I'm just a little jumpy after all of the drama this morning." Angela said, keeping her cool.

"Yes that was quite a scene. Might I ask what you were doing in Dr. Brennan's office for such a long time? I couldn't help but notice."

"Oh! Me? Brennan and I are best friends, and I guess she's sick today so I was just in there picking up some work and straightening up a bit. Between you and me, Tempe might be a genius but her domestic abilities are a little stunted." Angela joked, taking a step away from the guard and towards the door.

"Oh is that so?" the guard chuckled. "Have a nice day, ma'am." The guard smiled and walked the other way.

"Whew. That was close…" Angela thought to herself. As she was leaving she saw Hodgins at the microscope, alone, who looked up briefly and nodded to Angela. Angela proceeded to exit the Jeffersonian, computer and all, and headed to Tempe's apartment to meet Booth.

The guard walked towards the small rotunda just outside the forensic lab. He reached for his cell phone and quickly dialed a number.

"John what is it?" A female voice answered.

"Camille - they're on to us." The guard said as he hung up his cell phone and returned to work.

**Now who doesn't love a good 'ol conspiracy?  
Please review!!!!!!!!!! I've got the answers…**


	5. Pictures in 2B

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the show. Never have, never will. I know, it's shocking. I'm still trying to come to terms with it. ;)**

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who is reading this, especially those who have taken the time to review! I'd LOVE to hear from you!! I respond to all of the reviews I get! I hope you like this chapter – things are starting to really unravel now… here we go!

**Chapter Five**

Booth walked up the stairs to Bones' second floor apartment and inserted a key into her door. He had noticed Bones' ring of keys earlier that morning on her desk, and he had thankfully retrieved it before he was banned from ever setting foot in the lab. He walked in and flicked on the light and shut the door behind him and started to walk slowly around. The apartment was existing exactly as Angela had described earlier that morning, everything was put away, no dishes left out, and the bed hadn't been slept in – not like that was any surprise. It really was a beautiful apartment and, much like her office, everything in here reminded Booth of her. He walked into the fridge and noticed a box of Wong Foo's leftovers sitting on the counter, walked past the CD player remembering that awkward time when they danced around to that old Foreigner song.

Booth continued to walk aimlessly around the apartment, deep in thought, when he paused at a small decorative table near the bedroom. On it was a picture in a delicate pewter frame. Booth picked it up and stared at it for a while. It was a picture of Temperance when she was maybe 10 years old holding up a frog, and Russ' protective arm was draped around her neck, almost putting her in a headlock. Russ was grinning mischievously at the camera and Tempe was laughing in the other direction with mud smeared all over her face and clothes. Booth couldn't help but smile as he saw the same expression in this photo as he yearned to see in her everyday. Her smile was sometimes just enough to render him speechless. In ways, now it was Booth who had that protective arm draped around her everyday. _"Except for now…"_ he thought to himself painfully. He was still staring at the picture when Angela came and stood beside him, holding a large bag.

"I didn't hear you come in." Booth said, embarrassed.

Angela ignored his statement. "You really care for her don't you." She said simply as she too looked at the picture of Tempe and Russ.

"Yeah." He said, his voice thick with emotion.

()()()_Meanwhile…_

"Camille." John, the guard, said as he abruptly entered her office and shut the door quickly behind him.

"What is it? I told you not to talk to me here. You and I can't be seen together." Cam said as she continued to dig around her desk, looking for something.

"Montenegro knows. I saw her leaving Brennan's office 15 minutes ago and she seemed pretty disturbed. Once she left I went in there and the computer was gone. That computer has all of the –"

"Are you kidding me? You didn't have the sense to block that room off? John do you know how long we'd be in jail on the theft charges alone?! Not to mention Brennan! When did you last check on her?"

"Look, I'm doing my best! I didn't even want to give Booth the surveillance footage in the first place, but he flipped his ID and there was nothing I could do! Once he saw it and came after you, I tried to get him off but when I saw the other officers coming I knew it was my chance. I ran into the office and set the Orchid11 virus on the footage, and it should have destroyed everything. I even –"

"Look John I really don't care how you manage to do it, but do not under any circumstances make another mistake. This could cost us everything! If they find her, this is over. She'll prove what we stole and that's the end. Now get out of my office and do your job!" Cam snapped.

John silently turned around and left her office, heading outside of the forensic lab and toward the elevators. He would never make a mistake again. This was getting serious.

()()()_Meanwhile…_

Booth and Angela sat at Brennan's kitchen table and set up the laptop.  
"So what are we looking for exactly?" Angela asked.

"Last night Brennan mentioned something about having evidence to prove that Cam's guilt on the theft charges. It should be somewhere on this computer in one of these minimized files."

Booth maximized the last chapter of Bones' book and scrolled through it. Everything looked in place. In any other circumstance, this would have been the ultimate time to snoop through her book and read all of the stuff about "him", but with the severity of this day the thought didn't even cross his mind. Near the bottom of the document was a strange code. Seeley hit the Ctrl button and clicked on the code. A few seconds later a media file popped up and displayed 7 video clips. _"Good job Bones"_ Booth said quietly under his breath with growing anticipation of what they would soon witness.

The first video clip was dated two weeks ago, near midnight. It looked as if Temperance had placed the camera hidden on a shelf in the forensic lab, with a perfect view of the evidence table. Tempe must have edited the video, since it started right at the beginning of the action. Cam entered the field of view and walked toward the body, which was lying on the gurney. Across from the body was the evidence table where the team had spread out all of the objects and articles of clothing left on and around the body at the time of discovery – including a diamond necklace. Cam silently and casually picked up the necklace and put it in the pocket of her lab coat.

"Oh my gosh!! Did you see that?" Angela gasped. Booth shook his head in disbelief.

"I should have listened to her." Was all he said.

They watched the rest of the 6 clips in silence. Each one depicted the same procedure, and different valuables each time. At the end of the last clip when they returned to the main pop-up screen, there was an official typed document written by Temperance:

"_My name is Dr. Temperance Brennan and I am a forensic anthropologist at the Jeffersonian Institution. I work under the direction of Dr. Camille Saroyan, who is featured in these videos. Upon investigation you will notice that all security footage taken from the given times of theft are completely erased, which is why I set up a recorder of my own. The documents exist in their originality and I entrust it upon you to seek proper course of action."_

"Why would Cam risk her job like that?"

"I don't even care, I'm just glad we have the evidence to send her into custody so then the FBI can open up a real investigation and interrogate her. Angela there's one more thing you have to do. There's no way Cullen will listen to me if I bring in this computer. He won't even look at it, all he'll care about is that the computer was taken from her office and I wasn't supposed to be there. If you take it in, he'll listen. You have to go see Cullen."

"Booth I… Alright. I'll do it for Brennan. I'll let you know what happened once I'm done talking to him." She said as she closed the laptop and stood up to leave.

"Thanks, Angela. I'm going to stay here until I hear from you. I'll call Hodgins and Zach and see if there're any updates on the erased footage of the abduction. There's really no where else I can go."

"I'll be in touch." Angela said as she closed the door.

When Angela had left, Booth pulled out his cell phone and called Hodgins. He hated to call him at work since he was risking his cover.  
Hodgins picked up. "Hodgins, it's Booth. Do not react to my voice. Pretend I'm someone else." Booth said quickly.

"Rob, why are you calling me at work again?"

"Good job. Okay listen. Angela is on her way to speak to Cullen because we have the evidence we need to send Cam away on the theft charges, and then we can officially interrogate her and find Bones. What I need you to do is don't let Cam out of your sight and don't let her get suspicious. A whole bunch of FBI could be swarming in in the next while and we can't let her get away."

"Alright, so I'll just monitor the samples for changes and then we should be able to locate the weapon."

"Good. Has Zach retrieved the files back yet?"

"It's a work in progress and your company will know the moment it's completed"

"Alright. Cam should be in custody soon. Good work." Booth said as he hung up the phone.

()()()_Meanwhile…_

Angela walked purposefully right past Cullen's protesting receptionist and headed straight into his office, where he was signing off on some paperwork.

"Excuse me what are you doing just barging in here?" Cullen demanded as he waved his receptionist away.

"Sir my name is Angela Montenegro and I work at the Jeffersonian. There's something I need you to see. We've –"

"Tell me you are NOT working with Booth. If that man got in—"

"Oh no no, I found this on my own while investigating Brennan's disappearance." Angela protested as she, without asking, set the laptop on Cullen's desk and opened up the clips.

"Ms. Montenegro I think you need to get out of here… Well would you look at that." Cullen said disbelievingly at the image of Cam and the necklace in front of him.

()()()_Meanwhile…_

Brennan could hear footsteps coming towards the door. She was barely conscious and was having trouble forcing her head up to stay awake. If she passed out, she might never get out of here.

A man opened the door and quickly shut it behind him. She couldn't make out his face because it was so dark, but he lit a small lantern in the corner of the room and she stared at him.

"Hello Dr. Brennan. I just thought I'd see if there was anything I could do for you."

Brennan tried to open her mouth to deliver the sarcastic response in her head, but all that came out was an incomprehensible sound.

"No? Alright then. Oh there was one more thing." He said as he pulled a small digital camera out of his pocked. "I'm sure your friend Booth would really love to see how pretty you are right now." He said as he stood back and took a couple shots.

Brennan didn't care what the man was doing. Her head was so sore, and she wouldn't even face him if he could. The mention of Booth's name gave her the first shard of hope she had felt before. It was something to live for.  
Something to fight for.

()()()_Meanwhile…_

Booth sat at the table, just waiting, head in his hands, when Brennan's phone rang. He didn't know whether to answer it or not, but decided that he really should.

"Agent Booth" A distorted voice on the other side of the line stated.

"Camille?! Tell me where she is! I know – "

"This is not Camille. And I suggest that if you want this woman back, you keep your mouth shut and listen to me. When I hang up this phone you will open up Brennan's door, where a package will be waiting for you. You will be hearing again from me within the hour. This is purely just an… incentive. Stay off Camille's back." The line went dead.

Seeley slammed the phone back into the cradle and ran to fling open the door. There was a brown manila envelope laying outside on the floor. Booth picked it up and brought it inside, sat down on the couch, and broke the seal.

()()()_Meanwhile…_

"Everybody freeze!" An agent bellowed over the forensic lab at the Jeffersonian. Hodgins and Cam had been working together piecing back a skull when the team burst into the lab, guns drawn, all pointed at them.  
The guards swarmed around the platform and approached Cam. She didn't resist. She didn't even look at them. She calmly put her hands behind her back and allowed them to lock the cold cuffs around her small wrists as they read her rights.

Hodgins backed away, silently sighing in relief to himself, _"It's about time."_ He thought to himself as he glanced over to the doorway of the Jeffersonian where Angela stood with her arms crossed, standing next to a grim Cullen.

The guards dragged Cam off the platform, and as she was exiting the lab she glanced up to the Security Centre. She could see a horrified John through the glass watching her.

This was it.

**Please review!!!!! I will love you forever. And a day.**


	6. Answers in Her Eyes

**Author's Note – Hey guys! Sorry it took me longer than usual to post! THANK YOU SO MUCH to the people who have reviewed!! I absolutely love hearing from all of you, and please review after reading this chapter if you feel so inclined. I reply to all of them! (haha because I love you all so much…) Anyway, I hope you like this chapter... :)  
Disclaimer – The characters aren't mine… I just play with them.**

**Chapter Six**

Booth slowly removed the glossy sheet from the envelope and winced as he set it on the coffeetable in front of him. His throat painfully constricted as he let out an incomprehensible gag. The photo depicted Temperance, his Temperance, chained to a wall, not looking at the camera. Her face was nearly completely covered in dried blood, as were most parts of her body. Her legs were splayed in impossible directions – like a demented gymnast doing the splits. There was no note attached to the picture, no clue as to where it was taken. The graphic photo in front of him caused Seeley to leap up from where he was sitting, grabbed the coffeetable and flipped it over in a fit of pure rage.

()()()_Meanwhile…_

Angela sat on the other side of a glass wall with Cullen, and watched as an agent and an interrogation specialist questioned Cam over and over about the stolen evidence, and more importantly, Brennan's whereabouts. Luckily, directly following Cam's arrest, Zach emerged with the missing surveillance footage. There wasn't much left to save, but what was there would be enough to use in court. Cam hadn't uttered a single word the entire time.

"How long is this going to go on before they whip out the electroshock?" Angela demanded angrily. "Brennan is missing, and this isn't going anywhere!"

"Ms. Montenegro, we're doing the best we can, and other than some fuzzy footage we have no solid evidence to say that Cam is indeed one of Dr. Brennan's captors. I agree with you that the evidence points to her – she certainly had a motive – but there's no way we can prove it without a confession." Cullen replied, as Angela turned on her heel and walked out of the room, pulling out her cell phone.

"Come on Booth, pick up" Angela thought to herself.  
After the sixth or seventh ring, Booth finally picked up his phone.

"Booth" he said in a raspy, forced voice. He didn't sound at all like himself.

"Booth? What's wrong? You sound like – "

"Angela will you stop asking me that? You know what's wrong. Now what do you have for me?" Booth snapped, purposefully not intending to tell Angela about the picture – it would just upset her.

"I – well – okay. Cam is in custody. We got her, but she's been interrogated for the past half hour and she hasn't said a single word. We got the footage from Zach, well what he could salvage from it, so we have visual evidence of her possibly with Brennan. Cullen agrees that Cam probably has the information about Bren, but he can't force harder interrogation. He says we just have to wait until the male captor contacts us. You know, the other guy from the video?"

"Yeah. Alright I'll be there as soon as I can." Booth said as he hung up the phone.

Twenty minutes later, Booth walked into the interrogation-viewing room where Angela and Cullen stood staring at the glass. The security personnel had a hard time letting Booth through without his badge. After all, he was suspended. But Booth ultimately saw it his way in the end.

"Any progress?" Booth said as Angela and Cullen turned around.

"She still hasn't said anything. There's a possibility that – " Cullen stopped what he was saying as he saw Booth approach the door leading into the other room.

"Agent Booth, get back here! If you do so much as lay a finger on her – " Cullen bellowed after Booth, but Angela put a hand on Cullen's arm.

"Look, just give him a chance. Maybe this will work."

Cullen said nothing and watched the ensuing action through the glass before him.

Booth entered the room silently and stared at Cam. For the first time since her arrest, her face revealed a trace of emotion. Was it fear? Was it defeat?  
For the next ten minutes, a bout of wild questioning ensued. Camille said nothing the entire time, which antagonized Booth even more. He was really starting to get desperate when all of a sudden he heard a banging on the glass and Angela yelling "BOOTH! Get in here!"

Booth turned to leave the interrogation room as Cam broke her silence, "She's right under your nose, Seeley." She said simply.

He stared at her for a moment and walked out to meet a very shaky Angela.

"Booth" Angela said crying.

"Angela what is it? What's wrong?"

"I can't do this…" She said as she ran out of the room.

Booth's started to sweat. This couldn't be good. He turned to face a very grim Cullen.

"Seeley. You're going to need to see this." He said as he turned the laptop screen towards Booth.

()()() _A few moments before…_

Brennan heard the footsteps again. They weren't coming fast enough, so they couldn't be Booth. She rationalized disappointedly to herself. The pain from her legs was dissipating – it was as if her entire body had become habituated to the assault it had suffered. She was growing numb.

"Hello Dr. Brennan. I just thought I would come and supply you with some entertainment." The man said has he set up a laptop connected to a webcam in front of her. He attached a microphone and headphones for himself, but none for her.

When the image of a very surprised Angela came up on the screen, her heart leapt to her throat.

()()()_Present time…_

"Oh God." Booth whispered as he stared at the live feed of Bones in front of him. He could see her moving - barely breathing in front of him. He grabbed the headset Angela had thrown down and yelled into it.

"Bones! Temperance! Are you alright?! Hang in there, I'm coming. You're going to be okay. I'm so sorry we fought, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. What I said – I –" Booth's emotional rant was cut off by a chilling voice on the other end.

"Agent Booth. How nice to find a man so much in tune with his emotions."

"Shut up! What have you done to her?!" Booth yelled.

"Agent Booth, she can't hear you. Only I can hear you. All she sees is the image in front of her, which currently consists of a very upset man."

"If you so much as –"

"Booth I don't think you've been listening to me, and I think you should start. You have Dr. Camille Saroyan in your custody. If you ever want to see Brennan alive, and not just on a screen, you will release her to me and allow us the time to flee the country. This is all I ask."

"Saroyan is up on millions of dollars worth of theft charges, sir. Perhaps we can strike some sort of a compromise." Cullen cut in, close enough to Seeley's mic that the captor could hear his voice.

"I don't think you understand me. I will personally kill this woman in front of you in you do not release Camille within the hour."

The man continued on about his violent plans as Booth secretively scribbled a note on the paper between him and Cullen. It read "Get a trace." Cullen looked at the note and passed it silently to the group of FBI agents who had heard what was going on and had joined them in the room. They ran out and began scrambling for a trace.

The man kept talking but all Booth could do was stare at Temperance. She was looking straight at him, tears in her eyes. She was so terrified, he could see that all over her – an emotion he hadn't seen in her before. Her eyes started to close, and she reopened them. She did this repeatedly at the camera with a pleading look at Booth. It was if she was trying to tell him something.

She did this again, and then Booth caught on. It was Morse Code! Booth silently signaled her with his eyes to repeat the pattern. He wrote it on the same pad, without looking at the paper, to keep the rambling man from getting suspicious. "_B-E-L-O-W_", her message read.

At that moment, three FBI agents burst into the room, one of them waggling a piece of paper. "Location" he mouthed to Booth and Cullen.

Booth was completely ignoring the man now and had his attention completely focused on Temperance. He had his hand against the screen. Wanting to hold her and tell her everything would be okay. Wanting to save her –

"Agent Booth, I think it's time this movie came to a close. Bring Camille to the steps of the Jeffersonian in exactly one hour. Drop her off, and drive directly to the wharf, where Dr. Brennan will be waiting for you. Oh, and one more thing. I suggest you have a medical team at the wharf. I wouldn't give her more than an hour or two." The man said sickly as the screen went black.

Booth threw off the head phones and grabbed the piece of paper out of the agent's hands.

"The Jeffersonian?!" He said, clearly shocked. His mind was racing. Tempe's message! "_Below_!"

Temperance was being held somewhere in the depths of the basement of the Jeffersonian.

()()()  
**I apologive about the cliffhanger! If you want another chapter, review please!!**


	7. Guns and Sirens

Author's Note: I have to apologize ahead of time for the cliffhanger... it's just that the next chapter is extremely long and I wanted to make it separate from this one. I'd LOVE to hear from you about this one, and I'll post more very very shortly if you review:) So just consider this a 'bite sized' chapter! The appetizer, if you will. (Ookay enough with the food comparisons.. it's making me hungry.)  
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Bones... we've been through this...

**Chapter Seven**

"Give me a gun." Booth snapped at Cullen.

"Booth you know I can't do that! You nearly choked that woman today. There's nothing more I want than to give it to you, but it has to go through the proper channels –."

"CHANNELS? He's going to kill Bones and you care about channels?!" Booth yelled, stepping very close to Cullen.

"Booth, I cannot allow–"

Booth didn't let him finish. He grabbed for his car keys in his pocket, ran past the agents and towards his car. He nearly ran into Angela in the lobby. She had her arms crossed and was very pale.

"Booth! What's happening? Did you see –"

Booth cut her off, "Angela, I don't have time" he began as Cullen started running towards him, trying to stop him from what he was about to do.

"Bones is at the Jeffersonian! Go to the Jeffersonian!" He yelled to her over his shoulder. "Get them to send some freakin' back up!" He yelled as he flung open the door and ran for his car.

* * *

Suspended agent or not, Booth was using his siren. All he could hear the entire drive was the squealing of his tires, and the voice of Temperance in his head. _"I'm coming."_ Booth said to the emptiness of his car_. "I'm coming."

* * *

_

Brennan was almost completely sure that Booth had understood her message. It took every last drop of strength she had, and it was all she could do now to wait. The guard was getting sloppy. Every time he came to 'visit' she could hear the singing '_ding'_ of the elevator from far away. Rational thinking wins again!

She heard what the man had been saying to Booth and Cullen. _So it was Camille after all._ Brennan wasn't surprised at all, just thankful that she was in custody – this could be Temperance's only chance.

The man just sat there across the room from her now. The laptop shut, and over on the other side of the room. He sat there, just watching her. Her eyes started to close as she began to loose consciousness.

* * *

Booth didn't even bother to take the keys out of his car. He just pulled up to the entrance and ran into the Jeffersonian.

"_SWIPE CARD! I have no card!"_ Booth screamed in his head. He then saw Hodgins standing there holding the door open and praised Angela in his head.

"Thank God!" He said as he ran past Hodgins, who tried hard to catch up.

"Stay here, tell them I'm in the basement." Booth yelled over his shoulder to Hodgins who stopped in his tracks and ran back towards the door.

Booth jumped in the elevator, hit "B", and all he could do was wait.

* * *

Did you like it?? Please review!! 


	8. Broken Together

Author's Note: Thank you so much for the reviews!! Reading them is such a treat, and it definitely keeps me writing! This is a very pivotal chapter, and I reccommend that maybe you read chapter Seven again to get the whole picture - hope you like it! There will be 3 more chapters after this, so stick with me! Please review, I'd love to hear what you think!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones... Fox does...

**

* * *

Chapter Eight**

The 15 second elevator ride seemed like an eternity to Seeley Booth. He had no gun, no badge, no plan, nothing. He was running on pure instinct and emotion – two things he had learned were dangerous to mix. The basement of the Jeffersonian was usually used for offices for those of 'less importance'. It was also used for storage of lab equipment, old case files, and everything else that a government institution needs to run.

He ran as quietly and quickly as he could down the hallway. It was when he saw the tiny drip of blood in the hallway that he finally felt he was headed in the right direction.

* * *

Brennan fought to stay awake, and was taunted by the man, who just sat there snickering at her. He stood up and walked over to Bones. 

"You know? I never thought this would happen. I was in it for the money. Never once did I think that I would actually get pleasure out of hurting you – not until you arrested Cam. I cared about her. I _lived_ to make that woman happy."

He slapped Bones across the face and she let out a raspy scream.

"You've ruined everything. You and that –" He was cut off as Booth burst into the room and came at the man with a pipe. Booth caught him by surprise and slammed the pipe across his head, knocking him to the ground with a thud. Booth dropped the pipe and ran toward Brennan, who was trying desperately to say something.

Booth dropped to his knees in front of her and grabbed her gently by the face. _"It's okay. It's okay"_ he whispered to her as he pulled on her restraints with all of his might, yanking them free from the wall. Her arms dropped slowly and tears were streaming down her face – smudging the blood on their way. Her body, now unrestrained, swayed toward him. Booth's emotions got the better of him as he tried hard to find a way to embrace her without hurting her. A tear escaped from his eye and he kept whispering _"It's okay. I've got you."_

Moments later, a squad of FBI agents entered the room led by Cullen, taking in the scene before them. A broken doctor. A broken agent. Together they were whole.

The next moments were a blur to Temperance. She passed in and out of consciousness, trying to piece together the events that were happening around her. She heard the medical team arrive and they loaded her onto a stretcher. She felt Seeley's hand envelope hers. She heard his voice, bossing around the paramedics who were swarming around her.  
The stretcher was being pushed out of the Jeffersonian, Booth running helplessly along side it, holding her hand. She knew she was safe, and finally succumbed to the enveloping darkness.

* * *

_ONE MONTH LATER_

Angela walked into the hospital room to deliver another flower arrangement, and paused to take in the sight before her. It had been nearly a month since they had rescued Tempe, and she was still in a coma. She had pulled through two surgeries on her legs, and clearly was fighting off the coma. Angela was still worried; her best friend was ghastly white and had lost so much weight. Her cheeks were hollow, and her dark auburn hair spilled over the white pillow producing such a stark contrast from her skin.

In the midst of all of the physical abuse she had suffered, Temperance Brennan was still so stunningly beautiful – an attribute Angela suspected was not lost on Booth, who had spent nearly every night by her side. Angela set the flowers on the window sill and ran her hand lightly over Temperance's head, moving her hair away from the large white bandage on her forehead.

"Goodnight, sweetie. I'll be back in the morning." She whispered to her friend. Angela then moved over and took the extra hospital blanket from the closet and draped it over Booth's shoulders – who had fallen asleep by Temperance's bed once again.

* * *

_ANOTHER WEEK LATER_

When Brennan opened her eyes, she realized she was in a hospital. Her eyes took a long time to adjust to the bright white lights. Everything was so clean.

After a few minutes, Brennan began to take in the sights around her. On her left, there were numerous vases of flowers, lots of cards, and framed pictures from her apartment by the window. Her favourite picture of her and Russ was sitting by her bedside, it was the one with them when they were little when they went frog catching. She moved her head slightly to the right, and noticed both her legs in casts, and slightly elevated above the bed by two metal holders. The steady "beep…beep…beep" of the medical equipment beside her was the only sound in the room, and Brennan could hear the low mumble of the hustle and bustle outside in the hallways.

Suddenly she felt something stir beside her. She slowly glanced down to her right and saw Booth, sound asleep with his head down on her bed and the rest of his body hunched towards her while sitting in a chair by her bedside. His hand was on top of hers, and she gently grasped it. He woke up slowly and stared, half asleep, at her small white hand. He suddenly realized he hadn't imagined the movement and his head raised disbelievingly.

"Bones! You're awake" he said with a huge relieved smile.

"Don't call me Bones." To which he just grinned - she was back.

"How long have I been out?" Temperance asked with a strain. She hadn't spoken in so long.

"It's been 5 weeks. You've had two surgeries on your legs since then, and some pretty hardcore stitches to your head. With a little physio, you'll be up and running soon." He said reassuringly. "You were pretty beat up. Do you remember much of what happened?" He asked, hating to bring up the emotions around her abduction, knowing it was an uneasy subject for both of them.

"Bits and pieces. I remember being at the lab, being grabbed, and I remember being in that room." She began. "I was afraid you wouldn't know I was gone. I was afraid you –"  
Booth frowned and grasped her hand with both of his. Over all of the nights Booth had spent in this room, he had planned different things to say to Temperance when she woke up. This planning didn't help him at all right now, he had no clue how to articulate what he felt.

"I'll always come for you, always. Never forget that. Bones – Temperance – when we figured out what happened…" He stopped, not knowing how to say what he wanted to without coming off as melodramatic or insincere.

He lifted his other hand and held it to her face, just gazing at her. She tilted her head towards his hand and kissed it lightly. Neither of them said a word, they didn't have to.

Several minutes later, the hospital door opened. "Booth, we brought you some – Oh God! Sweetie! You're awake!" Angela said happily as she shoved the tray of hot coffees into Hodgins' chest, nearly scalding him as she ran over to her friend.

"Dr. Brennan! We were so worried!" Hodgins said, unfazed by his near burn incident, who handed the tray to Zach Addy, who trailed behind them.

"Hey guys" Brennan smiled. "Sorry I scared you." She croaked.

"Sorry! If anyone should be sorry it's Cam and her…" Angela stopped mid-sentence, judging by Booth's face it wasn't really a great time to bring Cam into the conversation. "Sweetie, I'm so happy you're awake!" She repeated.

"Cam? What happened to Cam? And that other man in the uniform… I don't know his name."

"Camille and John – that was her accomplice – are awaiting trial. They'll go away for a long time, but probably not nearly long enough. If it hadn't been for your tape, we wouldn't have had a reason to arrest her at all." Booth explained.

"Plus Booth beat the crap out of John." Hodgins interjected, completely ignored by the rest of the group.

"Will I appear in court?" Temperance asked. Booth winced at the question, and wished that she hadn't asked. This wasn't the time or the place.

"If you're willing… but it's not for a week. They wanted to wait until you woke up, but I told them to leave you alone and they had a case even without your testimony. Don't feel like you have –"

"Booth, I _want_ to testify. I want them to see me walk into that courtroom. We won."

"Dr. Brennan there is no way you will be walking in 7 days. You have multiple fractures on your – " Zach was silenced by a sharp nudge from Hodgins.

"Oh, well look who's decided to join the land of the living!" A bubbly nurse let out as she opened Brennan's file. "Look's like you got your wish Mr. Booth!" She added, causing Seeley to stare at the bed sheets, a little embarrassed.

"Dr. Conway will need to run a few tests on Dr. Brennan here. So I'll just have to ask you all to step out for a little while. Don't worry, it shouldn't take too long. I'm sure you are all very anxious to spend time with your friend here." That was the last thing the nurse said to the group as she proceeded to heighten Brennan's medication and prepare to remove her head bandage.

Booth was the last to leave. He stood, leaned over and brushed her cheek with his lips. "I'll be back soon." He said with a smile. She smiled back, and turned to the nurse to answer her questions.

* * *

_Ta da! Did you like it? Please tell me what you think!  
As I said, there will be 3 more chapters - and I promise they won't be boring!_ ;)


	9. Two Hearts

Author's Note: Hello! Thank you SOOO incredibly much to the lovely people who reviewed the previous chapter, and who have been doing so all along! Reviews make me abnormally happy - and I thank you for that! ;) So there are 2 more chapters after this one, and if you review and make me abnormally happy... I shall post them ;) lol  
Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine - I simply like to play with them!

**Chapter Nine**

"Yo Bones! I brought you some stuff." Booth said as he burst into her room.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Bones." Brennan answered, but then smiled at Booth, who was being way too nice to her. She had been awake for a few days, and was feeling much better. She was propped up on a bunch of pillows and was reading over some files she had convinced an unwilling Angela to bring earlier that day. Brennan hated getting behind.

"Ok so I sweet-talked the nurse into forking over your x-rays. I thought that would entertain you for like 2.5 minutes." He said sarcastically as he handed over the transparencies.

"Thank you." She answered, holding them up to the light and gazing at them curiously as he opened up a large brown bag.

"Yeah... there's just nothing like diagnosing yourself…" he teased.

"Booth, you smuggled real food into this place?" She asked, eyes widening.

"Ok for starters, it's not just food – it's Wong Foo's." He said as he dished out the meals.

They spent the next hour munching over 'real food' and discussing the case against Camille and John, which was to proceed the next day. Brennan hoped to convince the hospital into discharging her that night, but kept this from Booth. After all, Booth was primarily against her testifying, worried not only for her health, but didn't want her to have to see either of them again. But it was obvious that this meant a lot to Brennan, so he complied.

"Seeley." She said, after the food was gone and everything was put away.

"Yes." He answered, savoring the sound of his first name on her lips.

"I'm getting out of here tonight. And you're helping me." She stated, awaiting the uproar.

"Are you crazy?! Bones both of your legs are in casts, you can't move. Is this about the trial tomorrow? Look, I already told you that we can record your testimony from here – "

"No! I want to get out of here. And you know it's not worth trying to stop me." At this proclamation he stopped and shook his head. Bones was not the type of woman you messed with – especially in traction.

"You are really something." He said.

"Why thank you" she mustered as she lifted herself up from bed and detached the metal supports from her legs.

"Look. Okay fine I'll help you, but we're doing this my way – Stop touching that you're going to hurt yourself!!" Seeley protested, but was silently laughing to himself at the sight before him. Bones was so dead set on leaving this place, and her determination was impenetrable. She looked so weak, but she refused to wince or falter.

"Just don't move for like a minute, okay? I'm serious. I'll help you out of here. But first I need to get you discharged, which probably means harassing some doctor." He said with a mock-huff as he left the room.

Bones heard two loud male voices coming from the hallway, and smiled to herself. It was nice to have Booth on her side. She grabbed a sweater that Angela had brought from the drawer and slowly put it on over her head. There was no way she was getting her black pants back on over the casts, so the hospital gown would just have to do for coverage on the bottom. Booth emerged ten minutes later.

"Alright, you got your wish." He said, pushing a wheelchair into the room. "It felt nice to whip out that badge again. First time I've had to since I was reinstated." He said as he set the brakes up on the wheelchair.

"Reinstated? What do you mean?" Temperance asked as she twisted her body towards the side of the bed, noticing the wheelchair for the first time.

"Oh nevermind." That was one of many fine details he didn't mention to Bones. "Long story."

"Alright. One – two – three" Booth said as he lifted Temperance from the bed and into the chair. She was so light in his hands. He set up the two supports to elevate her legs and called Angela.

"Hey Angela it's Booth. Yeah, she's right here. Look, she's getting out tonight so would you mind coming and packing up her personal stuff? I'd take it, but I kind of have my hands full" He said, smirking at Brennan. "No, it's okay. Okay see you tomorrow. Yes I'll tell her. Okay bye." Booth hung up the phone and wheeled Brennan out of the room.

* * *

"Agent Booth! You really shouldn't do this! She needs at least another week here, she's still on pain medication and –" the doctor protested.

"Look, this is what she wants and I'm helping her. I agree with you, but this is what's going to happen. Trust me, she'll be here in 10 minutes if anything goes wrong." Booth said.

"At the very least, take these." The doctor said, pressing a bottle of painkillers into his hand.

"Whoa, is this for _me_ or for her?" Seeley joked as Temperance swung her arm around and batted him in the shoulder.

Getting Temperance into the SUV was a bit of a struggle, but after some grunting, groaning, and bickering, they final pulled out the hospital parking garage and into the darkness of night. They drove mainly in silence, and Temperance nodded off once or twice.

They finally parked at her apartment. And Booth remembered one thing – "Hey Bones. Uh I forgot to mention this, but you're probably going to need a new coffeetable."

"What happened to my old one?" She asked as she unbuckled her seatbelt. He didn't even bother answering her as he ushered her into her apartment.

Booth carefully wheeled Brennan in her wheelchair into her apartment. He had only been there once or twice since Brennan was rescued, and that was only to pick up personal things for her. Angela, thankfully, had disposed of the broken hunks of wood that were once Bones' coffeetable, and had also straightened up the apartment.

A strange tension formed between Bones and Booth; their bickering stopped and their looks to and from each other seemed much more pensive.

"It's good to be home." Temperance finally said, looking around at her quiet apartment.

"It's good to have you home." Booth said quietly as he opened up the fridge and grabbed two bottles of water. He figured beer wasn't exactly the best thing to consume given their circumstances.

"How did you know I was missing? What tipped you off?" Bones bluntly asked.

"Angela found a… bloodstain… the floor… We watched the surveillance footage…" Bones nodded her head and looked away from Booth.

"Temperance. We haven't really talked about... you know…" Booth began, but Bones cut him off.

"Hey, you know, I'm really tired" she said after a few gulps of water. "I think I just want to go to bed."

"No problem, Bones." Seeley responded as he set his bottle down slowly and wheeled her into the bedroom. He lined up the wheelchair with one side of her bed as she asked him to grab a blue flannel nightgown from the top drawer. He passed it to her and awkwardly mumbled "Can you uh… should I… Maybe I could call Angela and she could –"

"Booth don't baby me, I'm perfectly capable of dressing myself." She said as she started to pull her sweater over her head, very slowly. "Can you wait outside now please?"

"Uh sure" Booth said, accidentally backing into the dresser and then closed the door behind him.

Once the door was shut, Temperance continued to undress herself and loosened the knots on her hospital gown which she was very lucky the nurses had not demanded back at the time of her discharge. She pulled the big, warm, flannel nightgown over her head and adjusted it properly around her body. She sat there for a moment or two, just thinking.  
She and Booth had been playing hot and cold since she woke up, and they were clearly thinking the same things. 'You said yourself it would take intense circumstances to fess up' Tempe thought to herself. And if the past month and a half had been anything, it was intense. Tempe felt as if –

"Yo Bones. You okay in there?" Booth called from behind the door, interrupting her string of thoughts.

"Yeah. I'm done." She replied as he reentered the room. He gazed at her for a moment, not really knowing what to say next. Her nightgown softly draped over her body, the blue highlighting her beautiful eyes whose gaze radiated towards him from her pale face. Wanting to break the silence, he reached out his hand which contained two oblong white pills.

"Here, the doctor wants you to take these regularly." He said as he handed her another water bottle.

"Booth I don't want to be under the influence of any painkillers if I'm testifying tomorrow." She said, taking the water from him but not the pills.

"Look, he assured me these won't affect your level of consciousness and they have no side effects other than, well, the obvious pain relief. Take the pills Bones."

She said nothing, but complied, and gulped them down with some more water. While she was taking them, Seeley turned down the sheets. "Alright, let's get you to bed." Booth said as he slowly and carefully scooped Bones up from the wheelchair and placed her on the bed. He pulled the covers up over her and sat on the bed for a minute as he adjusted her pillows for her.

"Comfy?" He asked. "Minus the casts, absolutely." She replied.

"So are you heading home now?" Brennan asked.

"Are you kidding me? No way. I'm staying here, camping out on your couch."

"Sans coffeetable" Brennan added with a smirk.

"Not to mention no TV…" Booth added as he lifted his hand and brushed her hair away from the bandage on her head. She smiled at him.

"Look, no matter what time it is, just gimme a shout if there's anything you need. Anything at all. I'll just be out in the next room."

"Thanks." She stated simply as he brushed his hand over hers and then got up, and turned off the light and closed the door. They both wanted to say more, but they couldn't find the words.

* * *

Seeley unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a white muscle tank. It had been about two hours since Bones had gone to bed, and he could hear her breathing quietly from her room. He had just been sitting on her couch the entire time, mind jumping back and forth, replaying scenes from the past two months in his head. He thought a lot about the trial tomorrow, and how odd it would be to see Cam and John again. Though he hated her so much, Seeley still was mildly surprised by Cam's actions. However, 'mild' was the only level to which anything related to Camille affected him now. All he cared about was Temperance and making sure she was kept safe.

Temperance purposefully tried to make it so hard for people to love her, but she had failed when it came to Seeley. Hidden under her degrees, her attitude, her intellect, her wit, was that same heartbroken 15 year old girl waiting for her parents to come home for Christmas. The same girl whose heart Booth was trying to hard to mend. With thoughts of Temperance filling his head, Seeley finally felt a sense of peace and nodded off into a deep sleep.

Seeley's head shot up at the sound of a muffled voice, he looked at the clock which read 2:49 AM. _"D-don't…"_ he heard Tempe cry from her room. He couldn't make out the other words she was saying. He bolted into her room, gun drawn, to see Tempe crying and writhing around in her bed, clearly in the midst of an awful nightmare. He set the gun down on the dresser and sat down on her bed, trying to hold her still.

"Bones. Hey, Temperance. Hey, it's okay. It's okay." He whispered, trying to calm her down. She woke up with a start, but the tears continued to flow down her face.

"It was just a dream. You're safe. I've got you." He said, trying to wipe her tears away. He continued to calm her down over the next two minutes when she said "I dreamt I was back in that room. I dreamt that you never came." She said quietly, her voice distorted by her crying. "I was so afraid I'd never get to tell you how I felt. That I was sorry I didn't let you in…" Her voice trailed off and Seeley's heart was so full of emotion. He held her close to him and whispered into her hair, "We'll figure this out..."

Booth laid her back down and slid into the bed next to her. He wrapped his arms protectively around her and she finally succumbed to sleep; head on his chest, heart in his heart.

* * *

Did you like it? What do you think?? Do you want me to post the last chapters?? 


	10. Justice

_Happy Valentine's Day!!_ 3  
Author's Note: Sad to say, but this is the LAST chapter! It originally was going to be 2 chapters, but I've compiled it into one long one instead! It just flows better this way :)  
I really enjoyed writing this fic and thank you to everyone who read and reviewed it - it means so much!! _Please_ let me know what you think of this last chapter, I'd love to get some feedback (or even feedback of the story in general!)  
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters... only the storyline:)

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

Sun was streaming in through the window when Seeley awoke. It took a moment to register where he was, and he was elated when he felt the woman asleep beside him. His arms were still around her, and they tingled not only from the decrease in bloodflow, but from the soft skin they encircled. Just then, the alarm clock on the night table beeped and he swung his free hand over and shut it off. Temperance stirred and awoke slowly. "Hey there" Booth whispered with one of his trademark smiles. "Hey" she reciprocated.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, slowly running his hand over her arm.

"Fine. My head hurts." she said, finally growing accustomed to her surroundings and her cheeks turned slightly rosy. "Sorry about last night, I really was just…"

"Don't apologize" he scoffed as he brushed her hair off her face and gently brushed her forehead with his lips.

She smiled slowly and they locked eyes. Suddenly she remembered, "Booth, I'm testifying today. What time is it?" she said as she tried to strain her sore head to see the clock.

"Don't worry, it's only 8, we don't have to be in court until 11:30. That is, if you're sure you even wanna go. They have a written statement from your doctors –"

"Booth, no. I really need to be there." She said, more sternly than she actually meant. She didn't like it when he was so persistent, but at the same time she was so thankful to have someone who cared enough to say something. "But thanks" she added as she put her head back down on his chest.

"Umm. So what does this mean?" She asked him tentatively a moment later, leading Booth back to reality.

"What does what mean?" He asked.

She turned and looked up into his eyes, and then looked away. "Nevermind" she said.

Booth then realized she was referring to their…arrangement… and smiled to himself as he gently pulled Temperance closer to him.

"It's whatever we make it. Not everything can be deduced rationally, Bones." He whispered.

* * *

One hour later, Booth was in the kitchen pouring two cups of coffee when his cell phone rang. 

"Yo Seeley, is your girl coming testifying today or not?" It was James Corten, the lead prosecutor who had worked with Booth on several other cases.

"She's pretty set on coming, and not the kind of girl you mess with."

"Excellent. I'll see you both in an hour or so."

Meanwhile, Brennan was in her room getting dressed very slowly. Her hair was still wet and tied up haphazardly in a tight bun. Booth had helped her into the wheelchair that morning, but she refused his help when it came to her getting ready. It had taken every aspect of her flexibility to wash her hair in the bathroom sink and not ruin her bandage. It felt so good to be remotely clean again, and to actually apply make up; Brennan wasn't exactly the most girly person around, but she did like to look half presentable.

Picking an outfit was difficult, especially since there was no way of fitting her usual dress pants over her casts. She finally settled on a black skirt and a dressy teal top which added a bit of colour to her otherwise drained features. She snatched a trademark clunky necklace and then wheeled herself out into the main room where Booth was busying himself around in the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" She laughed at Booth while she untied her hair from its bun and allowed it to finish drying.

"What does it look like? I'm exercising my mad culinary skills." He said jokingly without looking up. "You look amazing." He said, finally looking at her.

She smiled and then retorted, "So does this food!" as she wheeled over to the table.

Once they had spent about fifteen minutes over breakfast, nearly 5 of which devoted to Booth convincing Bones to take her pain medication, Seeley grabbed his minorly wrinkled suit out of his bag and changed in her room.

He returned to find her sitting by the window, looking out at the people below. "Hey" he said.

"Oh you scared me! Sorry" she said with a nervous twitter.

"You ok?" He said, putting his hands on her shoulders and following her gaze outside the window.

"Yeah. I mean I just can't believe how close I came." She said slowly, deep in thought. "I thought I'd never be here… again. See you, talk to Russ, anything."

Booth studied her face for a moment, without her looking. Her hair was dry now, and rippled down her neck in soft auburn waves. Her eyes were so alive, but there were large dark circles beneath them as if just another reminder to the tribulations she had fought. _They_ had fought.

"I'll never let anyone make you think that again. You're never alone in anything."

A moment passed until she finally looked up, her eyes slightly reddened. "I know." She said as she placed her hand upon his.

* * *

Booth and Brennan reached the courthouse at 11:00AM, in time to meet with Corten in the chambers before the trial began. Brennan would not be testifying until he and the defense had laid out their respective initial arguments, and the surveillance footage of both the theft and her kidnapping had been viewed by the jury as evidence. 

"So after the jury sees the tapes, I'm going to stand and read the doctor's statement about your injuries. All you have to do then is go up and… well I'm sure you know what to say from there." Corten said as he patted Brennan on the back and then shook Booth's hand.

Once Corten had gone, Booth rolled Brennan out of the prosecution's chambers and down the long hallway towards the courtroom. He opened up the doors and they made their way down to their assigned seats. The courtroom was bustling, and most of the people were already present. Brennan heard a few people start to talk about her as she rolled by.

"_Oh the poor woman…" "Did you see those casts?" "She was in a coma…"_

Once they reached their seat, Angela shot up and kissed Brennan on the cheek. "Hey sweetie! How are you feeling?" She said, clearly concerned.

"Oh I'm fine. Booth has been amazing." She said and Seeley reddened a bit as he took his seat.

"I'll bet he has." Angela said in a teasing voice. Since Brennan was in her wheel chair she was sitting on the isle next to Booth, and Angela was sitting directly behind him.

"Order. Order." The court clerk said as the Judge entered the room and everyone stood. Everyone but Brennan, who sat there awkwardly and looked around her at the familiar and unfamiliar faces.

"You may be seated. Please enter, defense."

Just then, Camille and John, both dressed in orange jumpsuits, were escorted from a side door near the platform by three guards. Cam shot her eyes up and looked directly at Brennan, who stared at her right back. Seeley saw what was happening and reached for Brennan's cold hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. He himself had grown very tense; the very sight of them sickened him.

The trial began as expected, and Brennan could feel the eyes of the jury on her every time they mentioned her evidence or her kidnapping. Two hours had passed, and the prosecution and the defense had just finished relating their baseline arguments. Neither Camille nor John seemed to move once during the proceedings; they simply stared straight ahead, not wanting to face the shame of their peers.

Temperance was finding it very painful to sit still, as her legs were becoming increasingly achy in their fat white casts. She fidgeted around until she found a new position for her back, but that only cured the aches for a few moments. Booth noticed her discomfort and leaned over as the defense was wrapping up their remarks.

"You okay?" he whispered. "If you want we can get out and I can get you some water for your pills. You're just about due…"

"No, no I'm fine. Just a little restless." She whispered back with a tiny reassuring smile before returning her gaze to the court proceedings infront of them.

"If I may, Your Honour, I shall now present the evidence collected by Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian Institute regarding the grand theft charges against Dr. Camille Saroyan, and her accomplice John Potter.

"Proceed" the judge replied, indifferently.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, if I may lead your attention over to this screen." Corten said as he walked toward the large white projection screen sitting on the left of the Judge's podium.

The next few minutes were rather tense ones, as the prosecution played each of the 7 clips of Camille abducting the valuables. Some jury members shook their heads in disbelief and a few whispered to one another. It truly was unexpected; why would a renowned doctor gamble so much away, just for more money? Temperance was motionless during the entire viewing, but near the end of the last clip she glanced over at Camille. She wanted to see how this woman would react to such utter shame. Not once did Cam even look up the screen – she was apathetic.

Once the clips had finished, Corten commenced the next portion of charges laid against Cam and John – those of Brennan's kidnapping and assault. Booth immediately became very tense. Brennan herself had not yet seen these videos, and was slightly uneasy – however this feeling of uneasiness did not last long. She knew that now she was safe.  
The black and white surveillance image flooded the polar white screen, as the lights in the courtroom dimmed once again. There was Brennan, bending over as she peered into a microscope. She then walked over to reach for a collection of mineral samples when the dark figure entered the field of view and attacked her from behind, forcing her to violently fall forward into the forensic gurney. The entire audience, not only the jury, gasped as they saw the black pool of blood seep around Brennan's head. Everyone began to mumble. Brennan stared at the floor.

"Order. Order." The judge demanded, and silence quickly followed.

Booth would not allow himself to look back up at the screen. He couldn't see it again. Instead, he looked to his left over to the defense table where Camille and John sat expressionless. He hated them with the core of his being. They had threatened Bones' life, they had threatened the one thing that could truly bring Seeley Booth down.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I warn you that the following image is rather graphic, but critical to the proper understanding of the nature of Dr. Brennan's assault." Corten said, as the next picture filled the screen.

There was a gasp from the courtroom, and then an inexplicable shocked silence. This last image was an enlarged version of the picture John had sent to Booth, depicting a very bloody Brennan chained to a wall, unable to look at the camera, with her legs broken in impossible directions below her.

Bones gagged inwardly, haunted by the image before her. _"Come on Brennan, rational, rational rational. You're safe. He found you. Stay focused, you're up next."_ She thought to herself, forcing any ounce of emotion out of her system.

Booth's hand locked around hers once again, neither of them bothered to look at each other as they were thinking the same thing. Camille Saroyan is going down.

As two guards removed the large screen from the courtroom, the jury mumbled amongst themselves and openly stared at Brennan who found herself, once again, staring at the floor. Those moments felt like ages, until the prosecution finally called upon Brennan.

"I call Dr. Temperance Brennan, the victim of these charges and supplier of previous indicting evidence, to the stand to share her testimony." Corten said as he motioned to Brennan.

Brennan unlocked the brakes on her chair and Booth stood to push her to the stand.

"No Booth, I want to do this on my own." She whispered, grabbing both wheels with her hands. Booth looked at her for a second, and then nodded, completely respecting her choice.

It took Brennan a moment to reach the edge of the platform when she realized she could move up no further. She rolled around and faced the audience, taking in the sight before her. She looked at Angela, who had tears in her eyes as she gave Brennan a half smile and discreetly gave her the thumbs up. She looked at the jury, who were gazing intently at her, waiting for her to begin. She looked at Camille, who caught her gaze and then tore her eyes away. When those moments had passed, Temperance finally allowed her gaze to fall upon Booth. He looked tense, tired, and anxious. But when she stared into his dark eyes, through and through, she sensed something different: assurance. Booth truly and honestly believed in her, and that was when Temperance opened her mouth to speak.

"My name is Dr. Temperance Brennan. I am a forensic anthropologist at the Jeffersonian Institution." Brennan paused for a moment, looking down at her casts. She looked back up, as if with a suddenly acquired strength. She was going to say her bit and get out of here.

"I first noticed Dr. Saroyan's suspicious behavior nearly two months ago when I was asked by Dr. Saroyan to run a test on a Roman era skull, and it went missing three days later. Following these suspicions, I proceeded to employ a recording apparatus by which …" Brennan continued her observations for the next fifteen minutes, as if completely avoiding the experiences related to her capture and assault.

"… As you saw in the videos, it can be clearly deduced that –"

"Dr. Brennan, if you don't mind me interrupting." Corten said as he stood. "I understand you have been through a great deal, but if you would be so obliged as to relay some of your more _personal_ consequences from the actions of the defense."

"I – yes. Of course…"

"What's the first thing you remember?" Corten prompted. There was a brief and thoughtful pause before Brennan began.

"I remember darkness. My eyes, I couldn't open them at first. My arms were chained above me, but all I could feel was the pain in my head, it was nearly unbearable. There was blood… It was everywhere. In some places it was dry, but whenever I moved I could feel more flow down." Temperance paused to swallow. "I noticed my legs then - I tried to move around and they wouldn't. I screamed, but nothing came out. I was sure that I would die. I was sure I would never make it here." It was then that Temperance's voice began to waver, the emotion beginning to pour from every pore of her body just as the blood had flown out of her in that room.

"I wanted to believe that Bo – they – would come, but I couldn't force myself to believe it. I was afraid of what I'd never get to do. I was afraid of what I'd never get to say." She said quietly as she glanced for a moment at Booth, who was very pale and had glassy eyes.

"And I think… I think that scared me more than the pain I was facing. I was afraid of what I'd miss. Those who know me, and even those who don't, view me as a rational person. In that room, it was the irrational that scared me." Those words haunted Booth, as he immediately flashed back to the argument they had had before her abduction…

"…_.You know, if you could just face up to how you ACTUALLY feel and not be so guarded to everyone you know, you wouldn't have to throw yourself into work so much to convince yourself you're happy with your life…"_

"My whole body felt like it was on fire. The room was dark and very small; I had no idea where I was. That man, John, came in a few times and taunted me. He took pictures of me, and then came back with a laptop to film me. I could see Booth…" She stopped for a moment and looked down at the ground, blankly as a foreign tear escaped from her eye.

"I could see my partner's face and suddenly I felt like I had a chance."

"According to the team of doctors at the hospital, as well as the paramedics on the scene, Dr. Brennan sustained numerous compound fractures to the…" Corten's monotone description of her injuries continued, but Brennan could no longer hear his voice. Everything went silent as she stared at Camille. It was then that Brennan realized that though Cam had taken so much away from Brennan, there was something that had come out of this that was for the better. Cam and John had robbed her of her comfort, of two months of her life, of the freedom of mobility, of her personal and mental security, but there was one thing that they had given her: a second chance.

"Thank you, Dr. Brennan. I am sure that I am not alone in saying that I sincerely hope that the jury will seek to serve justice for you today in this courtroom." Corten said genuinely as Brennan wheeled herself back to her position next to Booth. Temperance looked at him with wide vulnerable eyes, and he stared back, as if telepathically transmitting the intense emotion he felt. "You did good, Bones. You did good." He managed with a half smile and kissed her on the cheek, completely oblivious to the eyes that were on them. The jury then left the room to deliberate their decision.

* * *

Half an hour later, the jury emerged from the deliberation room and silence soon fell upon the courtroom. The judge motioned to the Head Juror, who approached the bench and took the microphone in her hand. 

"We, the jury, find both Dr. Camille Saroyan and Mr. John Potter _guilty_ upon all counts."

Applause erupted from the audience, and Booth wrapped his left arm around Brennan and gently stroked her arm. She let out a radiant smile, one he had missed over the past months.

"Dr. Camille Saroyan. You are hereby found guilty by this court of law for seven counts of federal theft, one case of kidnapping, and one case of aiding aggravated assault. You are hereby facing life imprisonment, with the question of parole dependent upon behavior. Mr. John Potter, you are hereby found guilty by this court of law for seven counts of aiding in federal theft, one case of kidnapping, and one case of aggravated assault. You too are hereby facing life imprisonment. Case closed." The judge said definitively, with the triumphant thud of the gavel.

The jury clapped once again. Camille and John were lead out by guards through the same side door they entered, fully cuffed. Camille was fuming and struggled against the guard to look over her shoulder, as her eyes met with Temperance's for one final time.

"You did it." Booth said after Cam and John had been lead out.

"We did it." Bones corrected. "And next time I tell you about some wild conspiracy theory, you'd better believe me. I'm not doing that damsel-in-distress thing ever again." She said, as Booth chuckled and leaned into her.

"Don't worry; you'll never be in distress ever again if I have anything to do with it."

"I'm sure you'll have a lot to do with it." She smirked.

He sighed and took her hand in his. "You're my weakness Bones. You're my Kryptonite."

"I don't know what that means" she said half jokingly, and smiled incandescently, her face near his.

Booth knew what he saw in that smile. It was life, it was love. It was the one thing that should never be questioned.

´•.¸(•.¸♥¸.•´)¸.•´  
♥«´¨•° THE END °•´¨»♥  
.¸.•(¸.•´♥•.¸)•.¸


End file.
